Broward teachers to get $500 cash bonuses

August 18, 2011|By Cara Fitzpatrick, Sun Sentinel

For the first time in three years, the Broward School District has reached a contract agreement with its teachers union, giving teachers each a $500 cash bonus and securing about $30 million in federal funding for the cash-strapped district.

Unlike other employees, teachers won't have to take unpaid furlough days.

"This is the best agreement considering the hard economic times we're under, said Pat Santeramo, president of the Broward Teachers Union.

The cash bonuses will cost the district about $7 million.

Santeramo, interim Superintendent Donnie Carter and Board Chairman Benjamin Williams made the announcement Thursday after salary negotiations at the union's headquarters in Tamarac.

Carter called it a "major milestone."

The contract agreement is a significant departure from years past.

The district has declared impasse with the union in each of the past three years, with Santeramo and former Superintendent Jim Notter blaming each other publicly for the problems. Notter, who retired June 30, said his greatest failure was the contentious relationship with the union.

Under Carter's leadership, negotiations resumed again late last month and both sides appointed new lead negotiators.

Without a contract agreement, the district risked losing about $30 million in Race to the Top money. The federal money, which would be spread over three years, would be used for a state-mandated teacher merit-pay plan. The deadline for agreement was Sept. 30.

Union officials had said that they would only sign off on the district's merit-pay plan if they first reached an agreement on the contract.

"That was certainly a consideration," Carter said.

Broward's inability to agree also stood in stark contrast to Palm Beach County.

In Palm Beach, the district and union reached a tentative agreement in June to provide teachers with a $500 raise, retroactive to May 1. The district also scrapped plans for a one-day furlough for most employees.

The $500 across-the-board raise in Palm Beach would be the only salary increase for both the 2010-11 school year and the upcoming 2011-12 year. Teachers vote on the proposed contract in September.

The Miami-Dade School District also was the first in the state to agree to a merit-pay plan, which allows some teachers to earn $100,000 or more. Palm Beach didn't participate in Race to the Top.

To reach a resolution in Broward, the teachers union agreed to give up for one year a $1.5 million teacher improvement fund, which had provided grants for teachers.

Teachers also will have to do about two days' worth of training related to their new merit-pay plan.